Thanks Viviana Devoto!
Aiste, the model who loves food. And with her blog, she renewed her relationship with food.
Aiste has brown hair and long legs. The walking style of someone who learned at age 18 how to walk before an audience and how to highlight an outfit. She is a size 38. She is a model, has travelled the world and has seen her colleagues practising starvation in order to stay slim”. From Lithuania to New York, in the boring loop of clothes, fashion and makeup, she trained with passion one of the 5 senses, which resulted in the antithesis of herself: the taste. Aiste loves great food, restaurant roaming, she likes to scan every bite. She would talk to her food if she could, as she often eats alone between a flight and a photo-shoot. «I started a blog to answer a common question: do models ever eat?». A challenge to the classic models’ menu: a salad leaf and basta. Her *foodie diary* wouldn’t be so intriguing hadn’t she put together 2 antithetic worlds: modelling and food. Luxeat is ready in the fashion industry because a foodie top model is cool: it’s popular among and her super thin and her curvy colleagues. «And also among Chefs», she proudly adds. Her blog is a hymn to life (just like eating).
From New York’s Eleven Madison to La Pergola in Roma, and, of course, Noma in Copenaghen – René Redzepi’s sustainable food kingdom. Aiste Miseviciute is now 31 years old: at the peak of her career, she realized she had to find something new for her future: «The career of a model is short. I studied finance and business management while still modelling, then I launched my blog», she tells us over a shaky Gmail chat from St Barths in the Caribbeans. Her agency never objected to that: «Actually they were amazed by the fact that I had found some extra time for my hobby from the tight modelling schedule». Plus the message she launched was positive: you don’t need to starve in order to hit the catwalks. «When you are under the spotlights you are facing many prejudices, one for all that people ask you what diet you follow. I do not follow any. I am what I am. Once on a model shooting, I tried on some Chanel trousers that didn’t fit. The “sample” size was just too small for me. That’s how it went». Today Aiste is a famous blogger who flies from one city to the other to describe rather than reviewing.
David Jelb*, the movie director specialized in food stories, (he is the director of “Jiro, the king of Sushi”), is currently shooting a documentary about foodies, and on Aiste’s experiences. Her blog maps worldwide restaurants. And not only the big stars. «What matters to me is the quality of the ingredients and the way the chef uses them. Many younger generation’s chefs are more focusing on what’s fashionable. We had molecular food. Now everybody seems to be into the new Scandinavian cooking style, neglecting the importance of tasting. No matter how esthetically attractive a dish is: the artistic presentation of the concept should go hand in hand with the depth of taste.
Usually, the reason why we return to a restaurant is because of the excellence of food, not for the flowers decoration on plate. ». Her culinary Mecca is Tokyo, and mind, the fashion model Aiste, can even cook. Without bread, she says, she can’t stay at the table. «It’s what I miss the most, after few days in Asia, that is deeply rooted in my European background*. However, if I had to choose only one ingredient, the would-be olive oil, which fits perfectly with so many things. Among the treats I truly loved are French pastry chef Pierre Hermé macarons, made only with extra virgin oil.
*Correction. The Foodies documentary is by Swedish national TV journalists Thomas Jackson, Charlotte Landelius, Henrik Stockare and Fortissimo films, the company behind such films like Jiro Dreams of Sushi by David Gelb, Supersize me, etc…
* here in the original text there is a sentence or a word missing, maybe a cut due to layout needs. So I interpreted the sentence “that is deeply rooted in my European background” related to your passion for bread as follows” “the passion for bread is due to my European background”.
Thank you Lisa Sallusto and Andrea for kindly translating it 🙂
